I’m doing one of those fun blog hop things where you can read cool posts by other romance authors. We’re all answering the following questions. You can find the full list over at the lovely Dee Egan’s post at Slip Into Something Victorian. (Very cool post, go read!)

I choose to answer the questions about my work in progress, Ghost Phoenix, the third Phoenix Institute full-length novel. Well, it’s not there yet. Working on it. But I have the big climatic action scene in mind. And I know where the sex happens. So there’s that.

What is the working title of your book?

Ghost Phoenix.

Where did the idea come from for the book?

This is the third story in my superhero romance series, the Phoenix Institute, from Samhain Publishing. So I have the basic plot idea of “superheroes fight bad guy, fall in love,” but each book has to be a little bit different. The first book, Phoenix Rising, inspired by the X-Men, had a fire starter and a telepath.

The second story, Luminous, inspired by my love of Gotham City, had a cop and a woman who was invisible, and the latest book, Phoenix Legacy, has a hero who can heal practically any injury on the warpath against those who are misusing his genetic material. That was more inspired by my love of black ops/spies.

For Ghost Phoenix, my hero is an immortal English prince and the heroine can walk through walls. Naming the ultimate antagonist is a bit of a spoiler, so I’ll hold off on that.

Basically, I threw what I loved about English history and superheroes in a mixing bowl and pressed ‘stir.’

What genre does your book fall under?

Paranormal romance.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

Richard, the hero, is tall, imperious and charismatic. I’m thinking maybe the 30-year-old Lawrence of Arabia era Peter O’Toole. As for the heroine, she’s straight-laced and careful, so maybe Stana Katic of Castle.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

He’s an immortal prince without a country, she’s trying to live up to the family phantom gift. Together, they fight someone who wants to drown the world in fire. (Oops. Two sentences.)

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

Repped by an agent.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

First draft took two months, the polished draft took about four months.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

I tend to write out of the box stuff so I don’t have a good comparison other than maybe something like Marvel’s The Avengers. But I hear Suze Brockmann is doing a series about a special group of psy ops heroes. Similar premise to my Phoenix Institute, though a much different execution.

Who or What inspired you to write this book?

The whole series is informed with my love of superhero comics with a dash of Thomas Costain’s The Plantagenet Saga and I admit I gained some inspiration from Jayne Anne Krentz Arcane Society series. Plus, X-Men.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

My stories tend to happen over the course of a single week or two, so the pacing is very fast. And, of course, I will find creative uses for the superpowers while fighting the bad guys and maybe even during sex.